We are now living in a Zillow world and a lot of people just don't trust our judgement anymore. It is something that we will have to earn the publics trust back.

I agree that Seller's are resistant to the current turn to the buyer's market. I did a listing presentation where the seller had a very very tidy house with a few mid-range upgradesand some time to play with until he had to move.  I brought my comps and explained them, and he wanted to list 20k above them in a slumping market.  I told him I wouldn't list it at that price, but I knew other agents would tell him it was worth 40k more than my estimate and he could list with them and sit for a a half a year with constant pestering to drop the price.  He never called, but he went through 3 other agents, two huge price drops and never did sell his property.

The "I told you so" feeling was great, but it was so disappointing to not be able to sway a seller and list it correctly.  

I know how you feel.  I'm at a point with sellers where I may not even do a CMA anymore.

My last listing presentation, I printed out two lists.  One with all the similiar homes (within area, square footage within 10%, etc.) that have sold within the last 6 months, and one with all the active listings.

I print out the stats from my MLS that shows the activity (homes on market, homes sold, homes expried, etc.) in a bar graph format.

I present them to the seller like this:

"This is factual data.  No one can manipulate these facts and you need to see them:

1. Here's what HAS happened:  My display data includes DOM, original list price, the actual sold price, if it's been listed before (you know relisting a home under a new MLS# to make it "fresh.")

2. Here's what IS happening (active homes on the market and YOUR competition)

"Now... it's your home.  Based on what you see here, let's talk about how much you think your home would sell for and why."

I have a separate piece of paper with MY figure of what I think the home should be listed for and don't show it until after our talk.

I get "my home is worth more because...." and we talk about the truth of it.  One seller had a remote control hot tub installed inside the home that she paid and extra $1,500 for.  A nice feature, but you don't get a dollar for dollar return on that because...

"I have landcaping lights"  OK, but you can take those up and throw them away, so no dollar return there either.

It goes on and on... sigh.

Great comments!

Here is an article for all to read that reflects exactly the current sellers:

http://realestate.aol.com/article/investing/_a/they-listed-at-600000-and-sold-for/20070412110809990001

A few months ago, we discuss this same subject and one of the P2 bloggers gave the suggestion of adding a "Price reduction schedule" AND extending the listing period 1  month for each month with the higher price to the listing agreement for unreasonable sellers. I have used it and it has worked like a charm. The motivated sellers like that because they can see for themselves what I have been telling them about the market but the sellers that are not motivated don't want to hear anything about price reduction.......... those can go and list with another agent and waste their time and money.

I also have an article from the Miami Herald that explains how banks today are asking their appraisers to evaluate not only homes that sold but the ones currently on the market, the ones that have recently expired, the ones on pending status, AND calling realtors to make sure that the ones that sold did or didn't have price concessions such as closing costs paid by sellers....... I present that article to the sellers to show them that even if they find a buyer who is willing to pay their higher price that the appraisal/bank will not justify that price, unless the seller pays the difference in cash or is a cash buyer. In this market, if you were the buyer, would you pay the difference in cash or put all that cash in real estate?

Real estate is a numbers game, like Mark Leader says. The more listing appointments we go to the better the chances of finding a motivated seller and we are perfecting our presentation!!!!

John, I am in Boca Raton, a few miles north of you and there are buyers out there, some very motivated to buy, but they want to pay a fair price, today's price.

Sagine

Actually John, I think a lot of them won't come to the agent who originally "told them so" out of pride.  Seller's don't seem to like to admit that the agent actually knew more than they did.  I think it goes to this market: the market here was so hot for so long that FSBOs did have a little more luck than the national average of 8% FSBO success.  That (and the internet) seems to have created a mind-set that anyone can do it and it takes no skill, so the respect and value of an agent's skill has been misplaced.  

Sellers no are reluctant to admit that they need us, or that our skills are worth a fair commission (that's a whole other thread!...)

All leading back to them not wanting to pay attention to our "trickery with the numbers to get them to list low"  

Here's a question to pose to them maybe to get them to understand we are only trying to be honest and actually SELL, not just LIST, their home - "the commission I get paid is based on the sale price of your home.  If I were DISHONEST and looking out for MY interests, I would agree that your $225,000 home is worth the $260,000 you think it is.  In reality, I am looking out for YOUR interests and want your home to SELL."

My wife and I have been taking listings recently and we do our best to explain to the seller that the market must set their price and not their "idea" of what their home is worth. What has helped us in our quest to price the home correctly is a simple timeline that shows the seller what has sold, what is under contract and what has yet to sell.  We take that info, along with a 10 month timeline and put different asking prices in each of the 10 months. We then ask them how soon they would like to sell and show them the timeline.  At that point most will choose the correct selling price because they see in black and white, that if they price their home on the high end of the scale, it will take too long to sell !!  They choose the correct price also because we have shown them the market, and they cannot blame if they choose to list high and they do not get offers!!  Try it next time, and I bet you will at the very least, get them to list at a "workable" price.  You all have a great day!

I agree that we have to educate the sellers.  No matter what you tell them they want last years sales price.  I too have picked up other agents expireds.  I use that to show the seller how wrong they are.  Still the buzzards fly as we try to show them the way.  

Zillow.co, and the other "online" valuation sites are a joke. But try and convince John and Jane Public.

That being said, about the best we can do is to inform the sellers as best we can.  And, of course, back up your arguments with facts and figures. I go beyond the CMA.  I also do a Price Trend Analysis.  And, I provide market reports provided by my local MLS to further back up the information.

Beyond that, there's nothing you can do to convince sellers otherwise. A lot of 'em will "file" the information and do what they want anyway.

Evaluating comparable sales only serves as a benchmark for yesterday's market, which is better than today's because we are listing properties much faster than we are selling them. The simple laws of supply and demand indicate that the longer a seller waits to hit the market, AND esp. the longer the seller's home languishes on the market, their property's market value declines daily. Sellers who want to be "winners" must price to sell within the first 60 days and count their blessings if they're successful.